Can GenAI Do Strategy?

Results from an experiment that pitted a team of MBAs against MBAs plus AI.

November 24, 2023

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This article presents a classroom experiment that compared a strategy developed by a team of MBA students in the traditional way with one developed using a virtual AI assistant, which was an interactive tool that linked a tried-and-tested strategy toolkit as a plug-in to the generative AI underlying Chat GPT. The results of the two independent processes were largely similar, with the AI-assisted strategy being, if anything, more original. The difference? The students took a week and the AI just 60 minutes.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, strategic innovation should not be restricted to boardrooms or corporate leaders. In this era of gig work and changing demographics, everyone, from white-shoe consultants to steel-toe customers, has the potential to contribute meaningful ideas and strategies — as do computers.

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Michael Olenick is an Executive Fellow at the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute in France

Peter Zemsky is the Eli Lilly Chaired Professor of Strategy and Innovation at INSEAD, a global business school with campuses in Abu Dhabi, France, and Singapore.